CLEVELAND — We've seen cities laid to rubble over the past three weeks in Ukraine and while many fled, others are there fighting and healing.
"When I call my colleagues there, none of them have left. They just work and live at the hospital and then you hear some noise and I ask if it's bombs and they go 'yeah, they're shelling us again.' and I ask if they're going to the shelter and they say 'how am I supposed to leave the patients?'" Dr. Taras Mahlay tells 3News.
Dr. Mahlay is used to triage.
You find the most critical patient to be treated first, but in war, this University Hospitals doctor is dealing with an entire country full of healthcare workers with a critical need for supplies.
"When I talk to them in Ukraine, you know they also watch TV and internet too, and they say it's worse than what the TV shows," Mahlay said
Mahlay thinks about going abroad, but realizes he can be more useful here.
He's organizing emergency supplies to be sent over from an official list of needs from Ukraine's Ministry of Health.
That mission has turned into a warehouse of donated supplies.
"The full list is thousands of things that they need, but the more critical things they need is the antibiotics for infections and how to treat wounds," Mahlay said.
So the warehouse has turned into its own kind of triage center.
Trauma-related supplies and medications were out the door first, on a flight to Poland, then trucked in through Western Ukraine, with no sign of slowing down.
"Even if the war ended today we're still going to be treating and in short supply for years probably," Mahlay said.
Related Stories:
- Refugees, immigrants who moved to Northeast Ohio recall time lived in Ukraine
- 'A gut-wrenching farewell' | Northeast Ohio man worries for loved ones in Ukraine
- Which restaurants and organizations in Northeast Ohio are taking donations for Ukraine?
- Gov. Mike DeWine preparing Ohio for influx of Ukrainian refugees